Talk:Don't Look Back/@comment-24435238-20150831032444/@comment-3284502-20150831044659
He painted his skin darker so that it would look darker. That is blackface. There being a reason behind it does not make it better. Minstrel shows had artistic ideas behind it too. "Artistic" blackface is still fucking blackface. Appropriation without malicious intent is still fucking appropriation. Neither are okay. Ari never said either were racist - he said they were doing things with racist history behind them WHICH THEY DO. He also never called either of them bad people. He called the trend shitty and he didn't want to see more of it and he's mad that both engaged in it WHICH HE IS FULLY ENTITLED TO FEEL. Calling people out for doing something with a toxic history behind it is not going to make anything worse and frankly, fuck that line of thinking, because if you don't tell people what they're doing is wrong, they never learn and things never change. What does make it worse is acts of violence, harassment, and micro aggressions like appropriation which can be done without malice but are still fucking hurtful. Saying the people calling others out are an even share of the problem is simply put, bullshit. It was, is, and forever shall be the fault of those who commit the acts, not the people calling them out. Perhaps this graph will help explain better. Nobody is claiming these are holy hell the worst things someone can do. What they ARE saying is that these are part of the problem. Put the appropriation/blackface under "insensitive remarks" or "ridicule" if you wanna. Do I think they went out fully planning on doing this to make fun of people? No. Of course not. If I did, I'd be using MUCH stronger language. But this is STILL super insensitive and I can see why people are upset. You shouldn't be using makeup to make your skin darker. I can get if you tan or whatever the fuck by being outside or even just to protect yourself from sunburn/make your skin glow/what the fuck ever. That's one thing. It'd happen naturally anyways and you can't do much about it. But willingly, knowingly, actually putting on makeup to make your skin look darker? Uh uh. THAT is hella offensive and I'm not getting mad when people call it out for being offensive. Saying you don't understand isn't trying to paint you as "typical privileged white guy" - it's simply a true fact. You and I cannot have the understanding of racism that Ari does, because we are not POC. He has first hand experience with it we simply won't have. Kinda like he can never fully understand issues women face because he's not one and will never have the first hand experience. All people on the outside can do is try to educate ourselves and LISTEN when the people who experience it talk about it. Whether or not it was done with a purpose behind it is irrelevant - it was still a shitty thing to do. Do I believe he did it on purpose? No. But it WAS insensitive and should not have been done and people have every right to be upset and call him out without being told that race relations are getting worse because of them because that is some grade A HORSESHIT. With that said, I'm done. I'm not revisiting this discussion. I've said my bit. I'm not mad at anybody on here, but this is an important issue and I felt it deserved a strong response and y'all know me - I'm wordy. I rant. I do not let anything stand on one line when I can explain it in more detail with 20. XD I hope you all have a very good night.